Disease

[CAH2_HUMAN] Defects in CA2 are the cause of osteopetrosis autosomal recessive type 3 (OPTB3) [MIM:259730]; also known as osteopetrosis with renal tubular acidosis, carbonic anhydrase II deficiency syndrome, Guibaud-Vainsel syndrome or marble brain disease. Osteopetrosis is a rare genetic disease characterized by abnormally dense bone, due to defective resorption of immature bone. The disorder occurs in two forms: a severe autosomal recessive form occurring in utero, infancy, or childhood, and a benign autosomal dominant form occurring in adolescence or adulthood. Autosomal recessive osteopetrosis is usually associated with normal or elevated amount of non-functional osteoclasts. OPTB3 is associated with renal tubular acidosis, cerebral calcification (marble brain disease) and in some cases with mental retardation.[1][2][3][4][5]

Function

[CAH2_HUMAN] Essential for bone resorption and osteoclast differentiation (By similarity). Reversible hydration of carbon dioxide. Can hydrate cyanamide to urea. Involved in the regulation of fluid secretion into the anterior chamber of the eye.[6][7]

Evolutionary Conservation

Publication Abstract from PubMed

The three-dimensional structure of a complex between catalytically active cobalt(II) substituted human carbonic anhydrase II and its substrate bicarbonate was determined by X-ray crystallography (1.9 A). One water molecule and two bicarbonate oxygen atoms are found at distances between 2.3 and 2.5 A from the cobalt ion in addition to the three histidyl ligands contributed by the peptide chain. The tetrahedral geometry around the metal ion in the native enzyme with a single water molecule 2.0 A from the metal is therefore lost. The geometry is difficult to classify but might best be described as distorted octahedral. The structure is suggested to represent a water-bicarbonate exchange state relevant also for native carbonic anhydrase, where the two unprotonized oxygen atoms of the substrate are bound in a carboxylate binding site and the hydroxyl group is free to move closer to the metal thereby replacing the metal-bound water molecule. A reaction mechanism based on crystallographically determined enzyme-ligand complexes is represented.